Forget Cupertino! Suburb near San Jose. Great if he's working at an office in Silicon Valley, but not if he can choose anywhere in the Bay Area. I'm with the others - San Francisco or Berkeley (despite my affiliation with and fondness for Palo Alto, Berkeley is a far superior "university town").

There's nothing wrong with Cupertino per se. It's decidedly suburban and family oriented. It's not a place a 25 year old would thrive IMHO.

What's his style? Preppie/frat/post-collegiate? Earthy? Nerdy? Nerdy-hipster? Hipster? Indie-rock-y? Urban-dancey? :D

I've been here for ages; the above gratuitous labels can help us advise a little better.

Congrats to your son!

Hahahaha. Well, I guess if I had to choose one of those I would say preppy/post-collegiate/guitar-playing/yoga-doing/frat guy/adventure-traveler. It sounds like he should try to find something in SF proper or Berkeley, right? Any ideas beyond craigslist? He started with Apartment-Finders in Chicago and that was worthless.

Good morning rbnwdlin, here is the website for the SF Chroncle. On the upper left is Real Estate. Click on that and you will get to rentals. Good luck to your son!

http://www.sfgate.com/

North Bay! It depends on whether he likes the urban feel or not. SF proper is $$ and while not overtly dangerous, it's really a lot more dangerous than it should be for the size of the city. Let's just say that we in NoCal are not into law and order... and it shows. I recommend Berkeley, or San Rafael, or if he enjoys the healing arts the Sebastopol area. One hour north of SF is pretty rural - one hour east is not.

My choice would be to actually live IN San Francisco, if he can by any stretch possibly afford it.

Next up would be Berkeley or Oakland.

I am 33 and wouldn't choose Cupertino - unless perhaps I had kids in school because it seems like all the real estate listings there shout out "Cupertino Schools" in big letters, so I suppose they are good - LOL. Definitely family oriented.

My sister-in-law recently moved to Santa Rosa (north bay) because she got a job working in the wine industry. She likes it up there, but she is having trouble finding people her age (23) to hang out with. Most people she is meeting are 10 years older.

I would NOT live in Santa Rosa. While it is only about 45 miles away from the city, the traffic is horrendous. For several years they have been working on Hwy 101 and it doesn't look like there is an end to it.

Our daughter works out of a Santa Rosa office, but has been assigned to a post which requires three meetings a week in the home office in San Francisco. It is killing her. One day, going back home, she simply got off the freeway in Corte Madera and sat there for two hours, waiting for the traffic to clear. (It didn't).

Here is one off the wall for you. Our son works for a San Francisco firm as a computer programmer. Last year he talked them into letting him telecommunicate, sold his expensive house in El Cerrito, and moved to Reno, where he was able to buy a very nice house and furnish it well.

Then he got a dog, then another, and now spends part of his flexible working day at the dog park. He loves to ski, so that is close, and he has made friends his age there.

He just got a promotion.

Whatever works.

I wish your son good luck. It would really be nice for him if he could live in the city, I think.

The vast majority of post-college kids that I know share apartments in SF either with roommates or a partner or if they can swing it, go solo in a studio. A few, usually investment types or young lawyers, have their own condos in the Marina or SOMA. The big areas for the post-college kids are the Marina (preppie/frat); parts of SOMA (preppie/frat who want to be seen as more "hipster"); Lower Haight ( arty/hipster/activist); Hayes Valley (more affulent arty/hipster); part of the Mission (hipster/activist). Nob Hill is also popular as is the Upper Haight.

It WOULD be nice if he could live in the city. The rents on craigslist look insane, though. He has a BIG two bedroom apartment in Chicago and it would be ideal to have two bedrooms, one for a home office. BUT he realizes that he won't be able to afford that. If he was looking in the city, which area would be good and safe? Can anyone give me names of areas, ie marina, etc. I see names of places listed in real estate ads but that doesn't help because I don't know the city. I think he is leaning towards Berkeley, though. Thanks for all the advice. I forward it on to him.

I mentioned Noe Valley earlier - its full of trendy restaurants and shops / close to downtown and finacial area and many of the areas young people like to hang out.

I was there last weekend and I can assure you its full of "upwardly mobile" young people

He'll definitely need to give up the idea of a 2 bedroom!! He would need a roommate or two or better get used to the idea of living in a studio. To me it would still be worth it to live IN the city. Berkley is a fine idea too.

I live in Seattle and wanted to move down BAD a few years back. I did not pursue it seriously because the rents were soooo over-the-top and the pay was not that much different than Seattle.

rbnwdln,

Here is a page with descriptions on the various neighborhoods for you to read yourself:

http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/sf/neighborhoods/

Thanks for your help. There are not a lot of offerings in the city and if there are they are way too expensive. He doesn't want a roommate because he will be working from home and he doesn't know anyone in SF and he is over the 5 guys in a run down house lifestyle. So it will most likely be Berkeley, although the apartments listed with pictures all remind me of kind of junky college apartments. He has such a charming, large apartment in Chicago!!! It will work out. I appreciate all the suggestions!

North Oakland or the Claremont area or Berkeley. San Francisco only he can afford to live in places like Noe Valley.

I live in Palo Alto and there is a large population of young, upwardly mobile people here thanks to Google, Stanford, Apple and countless other conditions.
There is a thriving downtown bar scene, there are a ton of cultural activities and it is about as cosmopolitan and city-like as upper middle class suburbia gets.

Don't laugh...but look into Burlingame also. Close to the city, airport, a walkable downtown area, young folks (and plenty of blue haired ladies too).

Rockridge in North Oakland is great, although it too will be expensive. He could look into the Temescal area and also around Piedmont Avenue, both in Oakland. Have him look in North Berkeley and areas farther away from campus.

I'm in SF, although went to Berkeley and lived in Oakland and Berkeley for ages--what's he seeing and for how much? I read that the housing market woes are driving up rents again, so he may be feeling the effects of that as well. In SF, has he looked at Bernal Heights? Panhandle? Inner Richmond? Cole Valley? Mission? Glen Park? Really, I think he'll find many neighborhoods suitable as the city is small and easy to get around. However, way out by the beach wouldn't be my choice.

iamq--Burlingame. I *am* laughing. ;)

Actually, iamq has a point with Burlingame. The downtown is very walkable, has a great park (Washington Park) and easy CalTrain access into the city. Most people think about the airport side of Burlingame, and overlook the other side.

<i>Don't laugh...but look into Burlingame also. Close to the city, airport, a walkable downtown area, young folks (and plenty of blue haired ladies too).</i>

Burlingame is a great town (ask me, I live there). And I'm in between the &quot;young folks&quot; and the &quot;blue haired ladies&quot;. Suburban, yes, but with a very vibrant main street that is very similar to any of the individual neighborhood streets (Union Street, Chestnut Street, etc.) in San Francisco (Gap, Starbucks, book store, clothes stores, etc.). The difference, of course, is the town is mostly single-family housing, although there is a good sized component of multi-family, and those buildings are actually closer to downtown/train. Excellent shopping and restaurants, what seems like a fairly active bar scene, etc. So IF your son decided to live in a suburban area, yes I'd vote for Burlingame! Berkeley, although also technically suburban, actually has a more urban feel to it. I would guess that housing in Berkeley is more expensive because they expect students to cram into the apartments, but I don't know that for sure.

I was under the impression it is quite difficult to find a rental in Berkeley due to all of the UC Berkeley students. At least in the past it was but perhaps that is no longer true.